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Is yet another irritating and possibly dangerous game starting to catch on among chav drivers? I saw two examples of tailgating (on a two-lane road) followed by overtaking, then nudging left to threaten the offside wing. Calculated to create panic or road-rage I suppose. Is it common?
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Not just chavs. I think more and more people seem to be spoiling for an argument on the road. Had two today, number one was a fat rep in an 02 Mondeo who started being abusive because I made a mistake on a roundabout, culminating in him offering me into every parking spot we passed. He was too dumb to realise that as I had my wife in the passenger seat I wasn't going to react/oblige him. I have his number and he better pray that he's not local and I don't see him in a car park somewhere!
Number 2 was a chav girl complete in a VTS Saxo, mandatory baseball cap on who joined with me onto a dual carraigeway about an inch from my bumper, scythed her way to the outside lane and then swept across my front end. As I returned from the shops, lo and behold she was on my bumper again and pulled exactly the same stunt. Jeez - what can you do?
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"what can you do?"
The temptation is to buy a big old Defender or Disco and fit one of those towbars complete with the fitting for towing farm trailers to it.
Then, next time you're tailgated, stamp on the brakes, and grin as Chav and Friends make bits of their radiator (and hopefully the rest of the car) off it.
Of course, as sentence would be passed on me, I'm sure the Magistrate would suggest that "I should have known better". A sentiment which doesn't apply to the road-rage brigade, apparently... :-|
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Actually Gromit, I don't think you're legally at fault (nothing that can be proven anyway). Morally that's another matter.
Nice idea though.
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Actually Gromit, I don't think you're legally at fault
Of course not, you wouldn't want to hit that child that looked like it was going to run out in front of you...
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Not that I´m thinking of doing it, but wouldn´t having a car smash into your towbar risk damaging the chassis/subframe of your car?
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If you're driving something like a land rover, wouldn't the chassis stand a knock like this without sustaining damage?
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Its driving like this that makes me glad I drive a big 4x4 - I find no-one tailgates me, or should I say, if anyone does I can't see them. And when someone drove into the back of me all I got was a little scratch on the underside of the bumper as the mondeo went underneath the car.
A towbar & bullbar would be nice (and before anyone says anything about pedestrians - I try to avoid speeding through residential areas and do slow down when schools are chucking out - we live directly opposite a high school with a primary school 2 mins away. Its the parents that are the worst at dangerous driving/parking)
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Drive Your Way - If anything can, TerraCan
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The biggest problem with the rear ending is that Johnny/Jane Chav may well have spent their insurance money on some blinging wheels or nang stereo which will end up costing you money if there's a claim to be made.
Lee -- You don\'t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle
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Its driving like this that makes me glad I drive a big 4x4 - I find no-one tailgates me, or should I say, if anyone does I can't see them. And when someone drove into the back of me all I got was a little scratch on the underside of the bumper as the mondeo went underneath the car. A towbar & bullbar would be nice (and before anyone says anything about pedestrians - I try to avoid speeding through residential areas and do slow down when schools are chucking out - we live directly opposite a high school with a primary school 2 mins away. Its the parents that are the worst at dangerous driving/parking)
Spoken like a true 4x4 driver.
Actually, two years ago I had a tailgating Jeep Cherokee ram the back of my C-class when I slowed down for a speed bump. It damaged the back bumper of my car, but my towbar punched a hole right through the Jeep's bumper and the front of the Jeep was surprisingly badly damaged for such a low-speed impact.
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Not that I´m thinking of doing it, but wouldn´t having a car smash into your towbar risk damaging the chassis/subframe of your car?
I was hit from behind when I came to a stop at a junction. The bodyshop said the damage to my car would probably have been much greater if I hadn't had a towbar. The towbar was a swan-neck type and it punched quite a hole in the front of the other car. After exchanging names and addresses it was very satisfying being able to drive away with nothing worse than a damaged bumper, leaving the other driver looking in dismay at the numerous bits of her car that were scattered on the road. I'm a big fan of towbars, even if you don't tow anything.
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L\'escargot.
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"Not that I´m thinking of doing it, but wouldn´t having a
car smash into your towbar risk damaging the chassis/subframe of your car?"
I believe if you drive a Citroen Xantia the answer is: yes. Probably a write off if the pictures I have seen are tyical.
I get tailgated often. I find if it's in town areas I stick rigidly to speed limits. If the muppets want to do 40 in a 30 limit to pass me beside a speed camera, that's their problem. On motorways or dual cabbageways, I just let them pass.
Darwin talked of survival of the fittest. Let evolution take its course:-(
madf
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>I was hit from behind when I came to a stop at a junction. The bodyshop said the damage to my car would probably have been much greater if I hadn't had a towbar. The towbar was a swan-neck type and it punched quite a hole in the front of the other car. After exchanging names and addresses it was very satisfying being able to drive away with nothing worse than a damaged bumper, leaving the other driver looking in dismay at the numerous bits of her car that were scattered on the road. I'm a big fan of towbars, even if you don't tow anything.
Ditto in a hire van. An almighty "thwuummpp" at low speed, immediate thought of the £500 hire company excess, a leap out to see the towbar on the Transit 350 had disappeared well into the front of an old Escrote with rusty "coolant" pouring out.
My first comment - "You need to change your coolant, mate".
Nervous twenty-something scruffy youth stammers "your towbar saved you, mate", thinking that my 6ft 2in 17st frame was about to turn him into meat pie filling. It was a white van, after all.
Nope, a minor plastic bumper skidmark on the tow ball, but nothing else. Most satisfying.
r
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I don't know what people do wrong to be repeatedly tailgated. Occasionally somebody's a bit close behind me on the motorway in the outside lane, but otherwise I cannot ever recall having been the victim of an aggressive driver.
Let alone 'I'm often tailgated' which seems to be the cry on here.
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Agree with mapmaker. Apart from a nasty instance with a truck in the Dartford Tunnel I cannot recall being aggressivley tailgated in the UK anytime in the last five years. Neither do I see the "regular" rear ends round mtorway warning signs or the "hazard" caused by HA patrols on the motorway.
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"Dont know what people do wrong to be repeatedly tailgated" Here in the SW, you do not need to do anything wrong, you just have to be there on the road ( in their way )
Over the past several years, aggressive and bad mannered driving have increased markedly. If in traffic or at a junction, the slightest hesitation has the driver behind you leaning on his horn. I might just as well be back in Nairobi where this sort of thing is the norm.
Rgds.
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Vans and lorries seem to be worst on the motorways imho. On normal roads seems that every other car does it.
It worries me as I do a lot of driving and often have my children in the back seats at weekends.
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Well, I live in the SE - in the centre of London, actually, and I do not see tailgating happening behind me (and that's not because I don't have a rear-view mirror). I see some road rage, but (touch wood) it is not directed at me. Nor do I see people unable to obey the speed limit when in an average speed camera area. I drive within the speed limit.
It remains my contention that in general the victims of road rage bring it upon themselves.
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I drive within the speed limit. It remains my contention that in general the victims of road rage bring it upon themselves.
Some people tailgate.
Probably they do it more if they think the vehicle in front is dawdling.
Quite a lot of people dawdle (= driving well within the speed limit instead of an indicated 5mph over when it is safe).
I don't do this but some people still tailgate. Annoying, but essentially their problem.
Victims of road rage 'bring it on themselves' when they provoke, usually unintentionally, some mad halfwit. Quite a lot of people have no idea how to behave in a society containing other people. Sad, and frightening. There's no immediate cure.
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I've only ever been tailgated aggressively once.
That's in 22 years of driving, the last ten years or so at an average of 30k miles per year.
Ny solution, we were both taking a right turn, visibility was excellent and I could see it was safe to left foot brake into it at 50mph, braking only enough to balance the fws car round the corner.
The aggressor followed and spun whatever hot hatch he was driving. my 1.2 corsa drifted sweetly round the corner and carried on. He caugth up with me when I was stopped at the next set of lights. His passengers were all laughing at the agressive driver, who by now was looking very sheepish.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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As an 'adult' - or at least since driving adult cars for the last 10 years i have never been aggressively tailgated - but I used to regularly drive my partner's 2CV (painted red with bright yellow spots) and it seemed to bring out the worst in other drivers.
Conscious of the fact there was 0.5mm of low grade tin between me and certain death i drove pretty defensively (though as fast as possible) and was constantly bullied by other drivers.
Most frightening, I was pursued - duel style - from birmingham to stoke on a crowded M6 by a coach. I couldn't lose him and if i slowed he stayed inches from my bumper. The incident which sparked this was that as I was passing him (me in middle lane) he indicated and began to move into my lane. I couldn't accellerate to move into the outside lane and as I was already 60% past him i carried on - and made the mistake of looking up and frowning at him through my open roof as i passed...
Another time i beeped a repmobile who changed lanes in front of me on a roundabout causing me to brake sharply - 50 metres up the road he swung his car round sideways and stopped blocking my path and leapt out doing the neanderthal 'come-on' thing. Fortunately there was nothing coming the other way and I drove past and never saw him again.
Chavs, mind you, were pretty harmless, mostly just laughing and throwing stuff at it!
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Dunno about provocative driving, but the BMW X5 that was tailgating me today got a helluva shock when the traffic on the M6 came to a standstill and I braked relatively hard. He nearly hit the central barrier.
Don't appear to steer terribly well under heavy braking, 4x4s.
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mmm, smallfish. Interesting. On both occasions you made that fatal mistake of not ignoring the other driver. But I'm sure you know this!
Satisfying as frowning at the coach driver was, it achieved nothing and was a big mistake. Similarly pipping at the repmobile again achieved nothing. Of course he had seen you and use of the horn is solely to alert another driver to your presence.
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Is yet another irritating and possibly dangerous game starting to catch on among chav drivers? I saw two examples of tailgating (on a two-lane road) followed by overtaking, then nudging left to threaten the offside wing. Calculated to create panic or road-rage I suppose. Is it common?
I put it down to all the pent up aggression that results from all the restrictions we have to suffer, both in motoring and in other aspects of life. Before the days of the 70mph limit, MOTs, breathalysers, seat-belts, no smoking in public places etc etc if you felt uptight you just went out and vented your aggression on your car. Nowadays people vent their anger on other people.
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L\'escargot.
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yes - mapmaker - I have learned that there are a significant number of drivers who are on such a knife edge of rage that one tiny thing can tip them over the edge - even when it's them in the wrong. Difficult though it sometimes is, the best thing is not to risk getting involved.
If one of the tailgating/nudging chavs mentioned above meets one of the potential psychos it could get messy.
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one tiny thing can tip them over theedge - even when it's them in the wrong.
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Not 'even': 'especially'. There's nothing like knowing you're in the wrong for getting on your nerves.
If one of the tailgating/nudging chavs mentioned above meets one of the potential psychos it could get messy.
This is what one always hopes will happen. No doubt it does sometimes, but not as often as one would wish.
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Stamping on the brakes in the car seems to do the trick.
On the bike, there is nothing more satisfying than having some clown tailgate you at the speed limit, then opening her up once a NSL road appears. Speck in the mirror within seconds. :^D
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If one of the tailgating/nudging chavs mentioned above meets one of the potential psychos it could get messy.
It does. Often see that on the streets of London.
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I have learned that there are a significant number of drivers who are on such a knife edge of rage that one tiny thing can tip them over the edge - even when it's them in the wrong. Difficult though it sometimes is, the best thing is not to risk getting involved.
Not 'even': 'especially'. There's nothing like knowing you're in the wrong for getting on your nerves.
It remains my contention that in general the victims of road rage bring it upon themselves.
I never used to understand why (on a couple of occasions) overtaking slower vehicles at 70mph or a approaching/negotiating a roundabout in the correct lane used to generate anger from other drivers, no doubt they would later recite stories of some "idiot" they met today to friends, family, etc. Of course I can now see why; I generally believe a small number of drivers go looking for trouble to vent the anger.
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